Making Time
by SpicyPepper91
Summary: The 2nd semester of senior yr has begun. Liz & Conner are a couple. Liz has problems making time for Conner & this doesn't bode well with him. Jess's single and totally ready to mingle with the new hot guy she meets at school, but is he ready?
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note: Okay, people, this is my first fanfic, so please go easy on me. I would love it if I got reviews. This is just the introductory chapter and I'm open to all sorts of constructive criticism. Please let me know where I've gone wrong so I can improve on my writing.  
Well, that's all for now. Hope you enjoy :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Sweet Valley High Senioryear or its characters except for my own.**

**Making Time**

**Chapter One**

"Liz! Can I come in?" Megan Sandborn's voice came through the bathroom door.

"Sure," Elizabeth Wakefield replied as she applied mascara. It was Monday morning, and she was getting ready for her first day of the second semester in senior year, and she wanted to look extra special today for a certain someone, even though that certain someone caught her on her worst hair days every now and then. And just as Megan walked in, that someone walked in through the other bathroom door.

"Sandy, get out," Conner McDermott said as soon as he saw his sister.

"Liz, can I borrow your mascara?" she asked, pointedly ignoring Conner. Conner exhaled loudly and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Just a sec, I'm almost...there, done," said Elizabeth, capping the mascara and handing it to Megan, who flashed her a grin, scowled at her brother, and walked out of the bathroom.

"So...someone's decking herself up today," Conner said, eyeing her appreciatively with a half-smile on his face that most girls died for. "Trying to impress me?"

"Always. And I see that someone isn't too decked up himself," she replied, glancing at his tattered pair of jeans and faded t-shirt. Conner smirked. He moved behind her and nuzzled her neck, looking at their reflections in the mirror.

"You're right, give me your lipstick," he dead panned, eliciting a laugh from Elizabeth. "Anyway, I don't need to impress anyone, and neither do you," he whispered. "Believe me, I've even caught you in those ratty PJ's that you call a night gown."

"Sometimes I think that you and Jess should have been twins."

"Well, if we were, you wouldn't have existed and I would have to engage in incest," he teased, as he turned her around and held her in his arms. He leaned down and kissed her, one of their favourite morning activities.

"Conner, we have to get to school," Elizabeth tried pushing him away, but he held on firmly.

"Let's skip it," he replied, leaning down again, but this time she pulled away. If she started, who knew when she would be able to stop?

"As much as I would love to, I've got an Oracle meeting today," she said regretfully. "Maybe we can get together later?"

"After school?" he asked.

"Oh damn, I've got to work at HOJ." She winced as Conner stiffened and took his arms off her.

"Fine," was all he said before he walked out of the bathroom, and Elizabeth winced as she heard the door slam. Great, now he would avoid her like the plague all day. _Great going, Liz, _she thought to herself.

* * *

"Hellooo, hot guys!" Jessica Wakefield exclaimed as she walked through the school doors.

"Tell me about it," Tia Ramirez agreed, eyeing all the new guys that were walking around. "Speaking of which, are you planning to use your charms on one of them? You've definitely dressed the part."

Jessica looked down at her powder blue mini dress that had light embroidery on it, her pointed blue heels and grinned. She had to admit to herself that she did look good. She had taken extra time in blow drying her hair so it was all silky and bouncy, and her make-up was just the right amount.

"I think I can say the same for you," she replied, admiring how naturally Tia carried off her short denim mini skirt and a snug fitting tee that barely reached her waist. "You're definitely dressed to make someone drool."

"Thanks, but I just dressed up for fun," Tia replied, laughing. "And it wouldn't _kill _me if I did manage to make someone drool."

"Hypocrite!" Jessica exclaimed, swatting Tia on her shoulder. They both started laughing.

"Excuse me," a deep male voice interrupted their laughter.

Jessica looked up...and fell in love. There, standing in front of them, was the single-most hottest guy she had ever laid eyes on. He was tall, with jet black tousled hair and eyes that were a striking shade of grey. Jessica couldn't help but notice that he also filled out his t-shirt quite nicely.

She looked at Tia and saw that the girl was smitten as well.

"Hi," Jessica said confidently, giving him her most welcoming smile. "Can I help you?"

"Hope so," he replied, smiling back. "Could you tell me where room 167 is?"

"Sure," she said, still smiling. As she gave him the directions, she noticed that Tia was still looking at him in a dazed sort of way, so she discreetly nudged her out of her trance. Tia blinked twice, then realized what she'd been doing and blushed, looking down at her feet.

When the guy had thanked them and gone, Tia breathed, "Oh my god."

"I know," Jessica replied, slightly dazed herself.

"Who _was _that guy? He's the best eye candy I've seen today, and the day's not even started."

"Don't worry, I'll get to know soon enough," Jessica laughed. And she would. She would go to the ends of the earth to find out who he was. Oh boy, she was definitely smitten.

_Hellooo, hot guy._ Jessica smiled to herself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: People, please review. I need to know how I'm writing or else I'll think that I'm wasting my time. Thank you so much, sweetchristie03, for your review :)**

**Chapter Two**

"Okay, people, that's all for now," said Maria Slater, chief editor of Oracle and Elizabeth's best friend, wrapping up the Oracle meeting that morning. "We're going to read all your articles and decide who's going to be a new member of the Oracle team. Let's head for class now. But first, sign up over here."

Elizabeth sat at a table, absent-mindedly tapping a pencil on the surface. Conner had left without her for school in the morning, so she had to come with Megan. _What is his problem anyway? _She thought, getting angry. _It's not my fault that I couldn't make time for him today._

But then she realized that this was not the first time. Ever since she'd joined HOJ on Jessica's advice, she had been totally busy. She worked extra hours because she needed the money, and on top of that she had taken up a job at a local newspaper during the summer. She could count the number of times she and Conner had spent QT with each other during the summer on her fingers.

Suddenly Elizabeth felt guilty. No wonder Conner was pissed. She needed to apologize to him. She got up and started walking towards the door when Maria's voice stopped her.

"Liz, where are you going?" she asked, coming towards her. "Aren't you going to make everyone sign up?"

"Um, not now, Maria," Elizabeth replied distractedly. "Could you please do it?"

"Is everything alright?" Maria asked, looking at her best friend's face with concern. "Need to talk?"

"Thanks, maybe later. But I really got to go now. I'll fill you in later."

"Of course. See you in class then." Maria gave a pat on Elizabeth's shoulder before turning back to the people who were waiting to sign up.

Elizabeth quickly headed out of the door. There was still some time for the first period to begin, so she could catch Conner at his locker. She headed down the hallway towards his locker and saw that she was right. Evan Plummer and Andy Marsden, two of Conner's best friends as well as Elizabeth's, were standing with Conner. Both were in some kind of debate, with Evan waving a granola bar in Andy's face, while Conner just stood there and stared at the floor, not really part of the conversation.

"No, man, I'm telling you, these really do taste good!" Evan exclaimed, while Andy made a disgusted expression. "If you would only taste a tiny bit, you'd know what I was talking about."

"No way, Granola Boy," Andy replied, taking a step back in order to distance himself from the granola bar. "You may be the poster boy for these...these _things._ Don't try recruiting me in your one man army."

"One man army? I'm sure there are many more who feel the same."

"Then prove it," Andy said, with a smug smile.

Just then Evan spotted Elizabeth. "Liz! Tell me something. Don't you think granola bars taste good?"

"Um, not really," she replied, with an apologetic smile. She noticed that Conner continued to look at the floor.

"Ha!! One man army!" Andy declared triumphantly, pointing a mocking finger at Evan.

"Hey, guys? I'm sorry but can you excuse us? I need to talk to Conner."

Conner exhaled loudly and both the guys looked from Elizabeth to Conner, obviously sensing the negative vibes.

"Sure," said Andy, nodding. "I'll leave you alone with Moody Boy here while I continue mocking Granola Boy."

When they both had walked away, Elizabeth stepped up to Conner, who pointedly stared somewhere else.

"Conner, I need to talk to you about today," she started. When he still didn't look at her, she said desperately, "At least look at me."

He finally looked at her and Elizabeth thought she saw hurt in his eyes, but it was gone in an instant, coming back to its usual guarded state. She lifted his hand in hers, but did not feel the usual warmth that radiated from it whenever she touched it.

"Look, Conner, I know I haven't been spending much time with you, but I promise it'll get better. Once I-"

"You promised me the same before school started, but you've already broken it," his tone made her flinch. "Look, I know you can't avoid your Oracle stuff and work. All I want is to spend a _bit _of time with you, at least in the mornings. But you can't even give me that bit of time."

"I'm so sorry, Conner," Elizabeth said, really meaning it. "It's just that I was getting late and I had that Oracle meeting..."

"Liz, I feel like I haven't been seeing you in ages," he said, in a wounded voice that pained Elizabeth's heart. "We live together, for god's sake."

"I know, I know. Okay, look, I promise you this. I get off work at 5 today. I have some Oracle work to do at home so why don't you pick me up at HOJ and then we can just stay at home for a study date? Remember all the study dates we used to have?"

"We almost never ended up studying," he replied softly, half-smiling.

"See? We'll have fun," she said, desperately clinging to the string of hope he had thrown at her.

"Okay," he replied, taking both her hands in his. Elizabeth almost cried with relief.

"Liz!" Elizabeth heard her sister's voice and turned around to see her mirror image running towards her, looking excited.

"I met _such _a hot guy today!!" Jessica burst out as soon as she reached them.

"Ah, such a pleasant morning greeting," Conner said, smirking. Jessica waved him off impatiently and turned to Elizabeth. She was practically bouncing on her feet.

Elizabeth smiled. It was good to see Jessica back on her boy hunt again, what with all the Will drama that had taken place in the recent past. It was about time she found a new guy for herself again.

"Now, take a deep breath, Jess," Elizabeth instructed jokingly, "And tell me all about him. How hot is he? Like Brad Pitt hot or Orlando Bloom hot?"

"He's beyond all that!" Jess exclaimed. "Decide for yourself today at lunch. Or if you want, he's in room 167. We could go check on him. You'll definitely fall for him once you see him." Jess wagged her eyebrows suggestively.

Conner cleared his throat very loudly and scowled.

"Aww, look at Connie get all jealous," Jessica mocked him.

"Watch it," he growled, making both the twins laugh. He _hated _when anyone twisted his name to make it 'girly and (gag) cute', as he put it.

"Come on, Liz," Jessica said, grabbing her sister's arm. "We still have time before the bell rings. Annie is in that room so we can pretend that we dropped by to see her."

Jessica started pulling Elizabeth down the hall and since Elizabeth's hand was interlocked with Conner's, he got pulled along too.

"Wait a minute," he said, realizing where the girls were headed. "Why am I being dragged along to see Jess's potential boyfriend that Liz may fall in love with?"

"Oh, you'll love him too when you see him," Jessica shouted behind her back. Conner snorted.

* * *

Jessica sat in her art class, doodling "I heart Mystery Man" in her book. She was five minutes early because her previous class had let off before the bell rang. Her mind started wandering. She smiled as she remembered Elizabeth's reaction when she saw the guy. Her 'I'm-too-committed-to-notice-any-other-guy' sister's jaw had actually dropped when she'd seen him, which had, of course, caused Conner to scowl even deeper.

Jessica was determined to find out who the guy was. It was, after all, only third period, so she had plenty of time to find out. Just then, as though reading her mind, her mystery man walked into class and plopped into a seat about three rows in front of her. Her heart stopped for the second time that day. He was beyond gorgeous.

He turned around in his seat, scanning the classroom, and when he spotted her, he gave her an easy, acknowledging smile that melted every bone in Jessica's body. She returned his smile just as casually and was just about to call out a "hi" when the bell rang and students started filing in, blocking her view. She slumped in her seat, but then straightened up again. _Still plenty of time, _she thought positively.

"Hey," Jessica's friend, Jade Wu said, sliding into the seat next to her.

"Hey, Jade, what's up?" Jessica replied, happy to see her friend after such a long time, but also distracted because the guy was back in her view. "How was your summer?"

"It was fun, but drop that and tell me interesting stuff. Who's the guy you're looking at? He's _so _hot. I haven't seen such hotness for so long."

"Urm, Jade, remember Evan?" Jessica asked jokingly.

"Oops," Jade blushed and smiled.

"Don't worry, he has that effect on everyone. Liz saw him today morning and almost forgot that she was going out with Conner."

Jade giggled, and then said, "So, anyway, who is he? Have you nabbed him for yourself yet?"

"Still trying," Jessica sighed. "He asked me where room 167 was this morning, and I didn't even ask him his name. I was that dazed."

"Great to see you're moving on," her friend said. "Looks like you've finally gotten over that jerk Will."

Jessica smiled. She _had _moved on from Will. In fact, now she was almost happy for him and Melissa. Those two losers deserved each other. And plus, if she was still with the jerk, Jessica would never have been able to go after this guy who was _definitely_ hotter than Will.

"Ugh, all I want to know is his name," Jessica groaned.

Just then the art teacher, Mrs. White, walked in, saying, "Everyone, settle down. We're going to draw a piece of watermelon today. Mr. Allen, please hand these out."

While that was being done, Mrs. White took roll call. Jessica trained her eyes on the guy and her ears on the teacher. The list of names seemed huge and it seemed to take forever to reach his name. Finally, Jessica saw the guy raise his hand for the name, "Michael Miles."

_Michael Miles, _Jessica thought. _Mike Miles. Jessica Miles. Jess Miles. Mr. and Mrs. Miles._

Jade passed her a note.

_Jessica Miles. Sounds just about right, _the note said. Jessica grinned.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Yo, Miles! Still sure you don't want to join the team?"

Mike Miles looked up from his car, where he had been keeping his bag, to see Todd Wilkins walking up to him. He sighed. These guys would never leave him alone. They all knew him from his quarterback position in his old team. South Point had played against Sweet Valley High a couple of times and these guys knew that he was good.

"Still sure," he replied, annoyed. "I was sure when you asked me in the morning, I was sure when you asked me at lunch, now the day's over and I'm still sure."

"Whoa, whoa, chill dude," Todd said, holding his hands up in surrender. "Got any particular reason as to why you're so sure, when you used to be the best on your old team?"

"Nothing big," Mike lied. "Just wanted to lay low the rest of the year."

"'Kay, then. See ya around sometime," Todd said, walking away.

When he was gone, Mike let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He started rummaging through his bag for his keys, thinking. He could never really tell anyone why he didn't want to join the team. Especially not these guys. He had spent the whole summer trying to forget his old life and he wanted to start clean now. He would be the artist he had always wanted to be. He would do well in his subjects, and at the end of the year, he would get into a good college. This was his aim right now, and he was going to live up to it.

He heard a sudden burst of female laughter behind him and he turned around to see three cheerleaders walking about ten feet away from him. The one in the middle was the stunning blonde he had been eyeing since morning. Jessica Wakefield. He'd seen her in his Art class, at lunch, and again in History. She was really breathtakingly beautiful. With that silky blonde hair, amazing figure, and those _blue_ eyes and sexy legs, which guy could help but look at her?

Jessica suddenly spotted him and grinned. He grinned back. He heard her tell her friends that she'd catch up with them later, before breaking off from them and walking towards him. He caught himself staring at her legs again and quickly diverted his attention to a safer place- her face. Girls hated it when guys leered at their legs.

"Hey," she said as soon as she reached him. "Michael, right?"

"Mike actually," he replied. "Hate being called Michael. It makes me sound...old."

Jessica laughed. "Okay, then, Mike. I'm Jessica Wakefield."

"I know. We're in Art and History classes together. And I saw you at lunch eating with someone who's obviously your twin."

"Hmmm, someone's been stalking," she flirted.

"It's hard not to stalk someone like you," he flirted back.

"Anyway," she said, laughing. "What're you still doing here?"

"Stalking you, obviously," he stated, grinning.

"Come on, seriously," she laughed.

"Okay, seriously, I had an extra class. Since I joined in the middle of the year, I have some catching up to do."

Before she could ask him anything about why he changed his school, he changed the subject.

"So, you're obviously a cheerleader," he said, pointedly raking his eyes over her form.

"And you're obviously not a jock," she grinned, raking her eyes over his form as well. "How will you ever get the girls to fall for you?"

His mood darkened slightly, but he brushed it off. She didn't know anything about his life. It wasn't her fault.

"I've got other ways," he said, smiling slyly. "It may be hard at first, but I'll get them to fall for me eventually. Now you obviously don't have that problem. You must have guys falling all over themselves to be with you."

Her face fell and she looked down at her feet, making him wonder what he did wrong. When she looked up, he noted how guarded her eyes were, as though there was something she was hiding.

"Not really," she replied. Her smile seemed forced. He was just about to reach out and ask what was wrong when she stepped back and said, "Hey, sorry I have to go. I've...I've got to go for work. I'll see you tomorrow."

She raced off before he could respond, leaving him confused. There was something about this girl. Something that she wanted to hide from anyone she didn't know. And for some reason, he felt like he had to protect her and at the same time be as far from her as possible.

_Be careful with this one, Miles._

* * *

Tia fell into her bed face down after coming back home that day. First day of cheerleading practice had been a slow and irritating one. No one had wanted to listen to her because it was their first day back and they were still in the holiday mood and blah blah. Sometimes Tia asked herself why she was still captain.

After about ten minutes of groaning, she decided to get her butt off bed and go sit on the swings in her backyard. The place always provided her comfort. She dragged herself to her backdoor and stopped when she reached her patio.

"To what do I owe this untimely visit?" she crossed her arms and asked her best friend, Conner, who was sitting on one of the swings. "Aren't you supposed to be spending QT with Liz right now?"

He gave a short laugh. "Tell that to Liz."

"What happened?" Tia asked, going and sitting on the free swing.

"Nothing," Conner replied. "You look like death, by the way."

"Thanks. But seriously, what happened? Did you and Liz have a fight?"

"We didn't have any _time _to fight," he said, with another bark of laughter.

"You want to talk about it?"

"Even if I say no, you're gonna pin me down on the ground till I tell you."

"I've never done that!" Tia laughed.

"Sixth grade. When you were just dying to know whether or not I liked Lilly. I clearly remember my face being shoved to the ground with you on my back, demanding to know the answer when I refused to tell you."

"Oh yeah, I remember," she said, giving a triumphant grin. "So, save all that trouble and just tell me."

Conner sighed. "Fine. Things were going great. Liz and I were making out instead of studying. Then suddenly Jessica calls, asking Liz to fill in for her at HOJ because she's in _another_ crying fit over her past. Liz, always the good sister, obliges immediately. So now, instead of spending QT with me, she's spending QT with a coffee machine."

Tia winced. Conner was clearly hurt, but it wasn't completely Elizabeth's fault. She took a deep breath before talking.

"Conner, look, don't you realize that it's not totally Liz's fault? I'm saying this as your friend and also from the point of view of a girl. Basically, from what she's told me, she's a little short of cash. She needs to make money for college and she's starting that from now so that she has enough time to fill in college applications later. She loves you, but her main focus now is her future. And don't you dare go hard on Jess. You know she's been through a lot this year. She's over most of it but no one can ever recover fully from what she went through. And Liz is just there to look out for her sister. Who do you want her to pay more attention to, you or her twin sister? You've got to cut her some slack, Conner."

Conner was quiet for a long time. Then finally he stood up and looked at his best friend with an unreadable expression. "Maybe I should give her some space then," he said slowly, as though realizing something.

"Yes, Conner," Tia said, relieved that he understood.

"I'll see you later, Tee," he said, walking in the direction of his house. "I've got to practice for my gig on Saturday."

"What's the point? Half your songs are going to be about Liz," Tia joked.

Conner laughed, before stepping over the hedge and disappearing. Tia sighed and kicked at the ground. She was going around giving relationship advice when she herself didn't have one. When would she ever find a guy who would sweep her off her feet like Angel and Trent had?

* * *

Conner lay on his bed, facing the ceiling. He had tried to practice for the past hour but nothing he sang really satisfied him, so he finally gave up. He had nothing to do now. He didn't really have any homework, and Elizabeth would be at work for another half hour. Then she would come back and do her Oracle work, with no time for him _again. _

_Stop thinking about it, _he commanded himself. When he had told Tia that he would give Elizabeth some space, he had meant it. He would give her plenty of time to deal with her work, Oracle, and her sister.

She could have all the time in the world, because he was planning on completely backing off.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Okay, I'm not too happy with this chapter, but please bear with me. I was kind of busy so this was the best I could do. I promise I'll do better in the next chapter.**

**Chapter Four**

"Jess, what exactly happened?" Elizabeth asked her sister the next morning at school, before the first period started. "You sounded pretty much incoherent on the phone yesterday."

"Well," Jessica said, fiddling with her charm bracelet. "I talked to Mike yesterday."

"That's great! Isn't it?"

"Yeah it was. In fact, we were in full flirting mode...," Jessica looked down at the floor.

"Well, then what happened that made you so upset?" Elizabeth asked, confused.

"It was nothing really. He just commented on how it must be really easy for me to get guys and that guys must be falling all over themselves to get me. And...that kind of reminded me about the stuff that happened earlier this year."

"Oh, Jess," Elizabeth said, reaching out and squeezing her twin's hand. She was really concerned. She thought Jessica had moved on. But she knew that her sister would never really get over it. She felt a surge of anger towards Melissa and her cronies for doing this to the one person she loved most in the world.

"Oh, and then I kind of bolted from there without really giving him any explanation," Jessica mumbled. "I'm sure I've lost all my chances with him now."

"Jess, do you even hear yourself?" Elizabeth asked. "Where's the Jessica who never steps down from a fight? Where's the Jessica who never loses her confidence when it comes to the guy she wants? Come on Jess, you can't let Melissa and her sidekicks win. You can't let _Will_ win. Stand up and fight for yourself."

Jessica looked up with a small smile on her face. "You know, you're actually right."

"I am!" Elizabeth declared a bit too loudly, making Jessica laugh. Just then Conner passed by them, giving Elizabeth just a glance before walking away.

"Damn, is he pissed that you had to take over my shift yesterday?" Jessica asked guiltily. "I'm so sorry, Liz, I really didn't know who else to ask."

"Don't blame yourself, it wasn't your fault. Hey listen, I'll talk to you later. I need to find out what his deal is."

"Sure, see you third period then," Jessica said and walked away.

Elizabeth walked as fast as she could to reach Conner's locker. He was standing alone this time, just looking off into the distance. She walked up to him.

"Okay, what's your deal?" she asked him, annoyed at his behaviour. Didn't he understand her situation?

"My deal?" he asked, his green eyes flashing angrily. "May be the fact that every time I try spending time with my girlfriend, she feels that she has somewhere better to be."

"Conner, what could I have done yesterday? Jess was in a bad condition. I had to help her out."

"You always have to help someone out. You always have time for the whole world except me. I may sound like a jealous boyfriend and that's because I _am _jealous. Jealous about how much time you have to spare for everyone else. Heck, I'm even jealous of the bloody coffee machine which gets to spend more time with you than me."

"Conner-," Elizabeth started weakly, but he stopped her.

"Look, Liz, this is getting old," he said, stuffing his hands in his pocket. "We can't keep fighting every morning. So I've come to a decision. I've decided to...back off for a while."

"Back...off?" Elizabeth asked, staring up at him. "Back off as in...You're breaking up with me?"

"I think it's better for both of us to keep things on hold till we actually have time for each other. And there's no point in promising that you'll find time for me because I know you won't."

"You're seriously breaking up with me?" she asked, her voice trembling. How could he do this? He was the one bright part of her life that she could turn to when everything else seemed messed up. He was her rock, and he was the first guy after Todd who she had fallen head over heels in love with. And now he was breaking up with her.

"I'm sorry, Liz," Conner said, shaking his head and backing away from her. "I just think this will help us both."

With that, he walked away. Out of her life. Had it really been that easy for him to break up with her? Didn't she mean anything to him?

With these thoughts racing through her head, Elizabeth ran through the crowded hallway till she reached the restroom, where she locked herself in a stall and finally let the tears slip out.

* * *

Tia yawned. She was sitting in History class and was not feeling very entertained. If her teacher thought that droning on and on about the same thing would make her students actually listen to her, she was sadly mistaken. Tia looked around class and saw that half the students were asleep and the other half was yawning like her.

She suddenly felt that someone was watching her, so she craned her neck to look at the back of the class and saw that she was right. It was a guy. A pretty hot guy. Dark hair, blue eyes, and a nice smile. Tia started when she realized that the guy was smiling at her. A bit unnerved that a hot unknown guy was actually smiling at her, she smiled back shyly and turned to face the front again.

The rest of the period dragged on, but was slightly more interesting because Tia kept thinking about the guy and shooting discreet glances at him. When the bell finally rang, Tia yawned for about the hundredth time and stretched. She gathered her books and was about to walk out of the class when a voice stopped her.

"Not a fan of History?" Tia turned around and started. It was the guy who had been staring at her.

"How'd you guess?" she asked casually, amazed at how fast she'd recovered. Thank god she wasn't staring at him like a love-sick puppy, like she had been doing the previous day with that extremely hot guy she and Jessica had met.

"Just a wild guess," he said, grinning. "I'm West, by the way."

"Tia," she replied, shaking his hand. "You're new here right? Where are you from?"

"All the way from good ol' New York. Manhattan, to be more specific."

Tia raised her eyebrows. "Wow. You're pretty far away from home."

"Yeah, well I'm kind of used to it," West said, shrugging. "This is about the fourth time that I've transferred. My dad gets transferred pretty often because of his job, so we've shifted quite a lot. But my dad's decided to settle here 'cause he really likes this place."

"Yup, once you're here, you can't leave it. The weather's always perfect, the beach is always just a few minutes away, and of course, you get to see hot Californian chicks here," Tia teased.

"So I see," he said, looking her up and down and smiling slyly. Tia blushed. Just then the warning bell for the next period rang and Tia jumped.

"Oh shoot, I gotta go for French class," she said hurriedly. "It was nice meeting you."

"You too," she heard him say as she rushed out of the classroom.

_Wait till Jess hears about this, _Tia thought, smiling as she ran down the hallway.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Okay, here the italicized part is a flashback. Just wanted to clear that just in case there's confusion, even though its pretty obvious. Anyway, enjoy :)**

**Chapter Five**

"Liz, you've got to be strong," Jessica said soothingly to her sister in French class. "You can't show Conner how much he's affected you. This is the same advice that you gave me when Will broke up with me, remember?"

Elizabeth just sat still, not saying anything. Jessica looked around for Tia, but couldn't find her friend anywhere. Where was that girl? The period was going to start any minute, and Jessica really needed Tia's help, since Tia was Conner's best friend. The warning bell sounded and Jessica started to wonder whether Tia was skipping class, but she knew that wasn't true. Tia never skipped a class. About two minutes later, Tia burst in through the door and plopped into a seat next to Jessica, with an excited look on her face.

"Jess, you'll never believe who I just met!" she said excitedly. Without waiting for an answer, she continued, "I just met one of the new guys, West. My, my, he's hot. And to top it off, he's really sweet! He's transferred here all the way from New York, and he actually came up and spoke to me! _Me! _Can you believe it? I'm in love!"

"Um, wow, that's great Tee," Jessica said, looking meaningfully at Tia and pointing to Elizabeth with her eyes. Tia looked puzzled, but when she saw Elizabeth's expression, her face grew concerned.

"Liz, what's wrong?" she asked gently. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, it's not you, Tee," Elizabeth said, her voice breaking a bit. She looked like she couldn't say anymore, so Jessica stepped in.

"Conner broke up with her."

Jessica saw Tia's expression slowly from shock to realization and finally to anger.

"I'm so going to kill that guy," she whispered angrily to herself.

* * *

After school that day, Mike decided that he didn't want to go home immediately. He did not want to face his over-concerned mother for another afternoon, asking, how was school today? Did he make any friends? Was he feeling lonely? Did he want to talk?

Mike drove till he reached the beach. He went to the place where he always went to think- right next to the rocky area. It was his sanctuary, the place he always came to when his life seemed too messed up. He hadn't come here since the beginning of summer. Since...

Mike shook his head to clear his thoughts. He did not want to relive that moment again. That moment when his world seemed to have been torn into two. He told himself for about the millionth time that he was starting over. He needed to move on. But the more he tried, the more vividly his past came flashing back to him.

--

_Lisa. As Mike pictured her long brown hair and beautiful green eyes, he found his heart melting. Four long years, and still every time he thought of her, he fell in love all over again. He had been back from his road trip a few days early, and Lisa didn't yet know._

_Mike sat up as an idea struck him. He would give Lisa a surprise visit. He got off his bed and grabbed his coat and car keys, and just as he stepped out of the house, his cell phone rang. It was his mother._

"_Hey, Mom. Aren't you at work?"_

"_Mike, dear," his mother's voice came shakily over the phone. "Can you come to the hospital now?"_

"_Mom, what's wrong? Is Dad okay?"_

"_He...he's still in surgery, but a doctor just came and said that...things weren't looking good."_

"_What does that mean?"_

"_Just...come to the hospital, dear."_

_--_

_Mike stumbled out of the hospital doors and into his car, unaware of where he was going. His father..._

_He kept hearing the doctor's voice telling his mother, "Mrs. Miles, there were some complications in the surgery and we tried everything we could, but...I'm afraid Mr. Miles is no longer with us. I'm...terribly sorry for your loss, but he was just too weak."_

_The last thing Mike heard before rushing away were his mother's hysterical sobs. _

Weak, _Mike thought to himself angrily. They said his father had been too weak. Obviously they didn't know his father. The William Miles that Mike had grown up respecting and loving was not weak. He did not get sick. He did not get heart attacks in the middle of the day because of too much stress. He did not die because of "complications" in the surgery._

_Yet here was the truth, staring boldly at his face. A tear rolled down his cheek but he angrily wiped it away._

_Mike found himself headed towards the one house where he knew he would find comfort. Lisa would find some way to tell him that all this was not happening. That his father had not just died._

_He stood in front of her door, but couldn't bring himself to ring the bell. He couldn't face her parents, their sympathetic looks. He went around the house instead and let himself in through the back door and walked to the den, thinking he heard Lisa's voice coming from there. _

_He froze at the door of the den. It took him only a second to take in the scene. The dimly lit room. Lisa, _his _Lisa, on the couch with her lips locked with his best friend, Jake. Both of them moaning each other's names. Their hair and limbs a tangled mess. Jake's hands all over _his _Lisa's body._

_The last thing Mike remembered doing was pulling both of them apart and punching Jake hard in his face, before storming away, ignoring Lisa's piteous cries for forgiveness._

--

Mike was horrified to find that his eyes were tearing up. He was doing just the thing that he did not want to do- pine for his loss. His father had told him, before going into surgery, to never go into depression over a loss. To always think that the person has gone to a better place.

Mike was trying so hard to move on. To start a new life. He had left playing football because of Jake. Jake had been his football buddy, his best friend. Mike had thought that Jake was not like all the other players, who slept with their best friends' girlfriends. Well, obviously, he had been proved wrong. And that was the reason Mike had left football. Playing football meant getting close with the other members of the team. Getting close with the other team members meant going on double dates. And that meant getting hurt all over again.

He had had a choice to prevent from getting hurt again. Either choose football and give up having a girlfriend, or have a girlfriend, give up his football life, and start all over. He opted to go with the second choice.

Mike exhaled loudly, thinking of how badly he had handled the situation before summer. He had just run away. He had travelled all over California, leaving his grieving mother all alone. But at the time, he hadn't been able to cope with his father's death and Lisa's cheating on him both on the same day.

Lisa had been the love of his life. He had never loved anyone as much as he had loved her. He thought both of them were going to be together forever. Mike laughed at his stupidity. How long had Lisa and Jake been going at it behind his back? How long had Lisa looked into his eyes lovingly, only to picture someone else in her mind instead of him?

After that incident, Mike had promised himself that he would never trust any girl as much as he had trusted Lisa. He had promised himself that he wouldn't open up completely to any girl ever again.

But then he met Jessica Wakefield. Jessica made him feel things he hadn't felt in a long time. And even though they had talked just once, Mike knew that she was different. He had seen the hint of pain in her eyes the previous day, just before it was shielded by a guarded look. And the pain he saw in her eyes made him want to protect her. Want to tell her that he would understand her no matter what.

But he was scared.

* * *

Conner was avoiding Elizabeth. Any blind person could see that. When he saw her in the hallway, headed towards him, he started walking in the opposite direction. In Creative Writing class, he seated himself as far away from her as possible. During lunchtime, he got into his car and drove till it was time for him to return again.

He couldn't bear Elizabeth's sad looks. He knew he had hurt her. He knew he had left her just when she needed him most. And the looks she had shot at him through the day wrenched his heart out from his body. It made him want to go back to her and gather her in his arms, telling her everything would be fine.

But he couldn't do that. He couldn't go back to her because he knew the fights would start again. She would start taking him for granted again. And he knew he would hurt her again. He couldn't do that to her.

As he sat on his bed, Conner found himself writing a song on Elizabeth _again._ He crumpled up the paper and threw it aside. He tried playing few of his old songs and made up a decent, but boring song list. If he wanted to impress his audience, he needed something new. But every new song he wrote was on Elizabeth. Conner laughed bitterly.

Just then Tia burst into his room, startling him.

"Conner McDermott, you insensitive freak!" she yelled as soon as she came in.

"You know, there's something called knocking, Tee. People do it all the time. You should try it."

"You _broke up _with Liz?" she continued, ignoring him. "How could you be so insensitive? You know Liz is going through a hard time! How could you leave her when she needs you the most?"

Conner got angry. And that was because Tia was right. As usual, she had guessed exactly what he was thinking.

"Dammit, Tee," he said, punching his pillow hard. "I don't need to talk about this with you. Again."

"You knew, didn't you?" Tia shot back, her eyes flashing. "You knew that she needed you and still you left her. When you told me that you were going to give her some space yesterday, I thought you meant it."

"I did. And that's exactly what I did. I'm giving her space."

"By breaking her heart?" she hissed angrily. Conner would never admit this to anyone, but at that moment, he felt quite intimidated by the little-over-five-foot girl in front of him.

"Tia, this is between Liz and me. You don't need to butt in."

"I damn well do! Liz is one of my closest friends and I will not stand seeing her getting hurt by you!"

"So don't."

"You need to apologize to her, Conner."

Conner laughed. "Right. That's gonna happen."

"Fine," Tia said, stepping back. "You've already lost Liz. Now you lose me."

With that, she whirled around and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

Elizabeth lay on her bed and winced as she heard Conner's bedroom door slam. She had heard Tia in there, shouting at Conner. It was really sweet of Tia to stand up for her, but Elizabeth did not want to be the reason why Conner's and her friendship broke.

School had been terrible that day. Conner had avoided her all day long. Whenever she spotted him somewhere, he would disappear the next second. She really needed to talk to him, but she knew that if she went over to his room now, he would practically shove her out of there.

Elizabeth was tired of this. Conner had broken up with her just that morning, but it still felt like ages ago. Time had slowed down for her. Even while she was writing an article for Oracle, it took her much longer than usual to finish it, and it wasn't up to her normal standards. She couldn't even do her own work without getting distracted.

Suddenly Elizabeth felt a surge of anger. She was actually letting a guy interfere with her work? She blamed Conner more than she blamed herself. He was the one who had come into her life and changed it completely. He was the one who had made her fall for him and then proceeded to break up with her just when things got rough.

Elizabeth sat up in her bed. She wasn't going to let Conner ruin her life. She was going to get back at him by showing him what he'd lost. And she was going to start that from now. She wiped her tears away and went to her wardrobe.

Twenty minutes later, she was standing at the entrance of Riot, dressed sexily and ready to hook up with someone.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I'm so sorry for the extremely late update. I had a horrible case of writer's block. I kinda suck when it comes to writing serious/uncomfortable/embarrassing moments. Anyway, this is the longest chapter I've written till now. Hope it makes up for my tardiness :)**

**Chapter Six**

Tia paced in her room angrily. She was fed up of Conner. She had had enough of his stupid decisions. But the worst thing was that he didn't even include her in any of his decisions anymore. Like the one where he decided to break up with Elizabeth. She had found out about it through Jessica and not him.

Tia sighed sadly. She felt like she was losing her best friend. He had become so distant after he met Elizabeth. He had confided in Elizabeth more than he had ever done with Tia. But Tia didn't blame Elizabeth. Even though a tiny part of her resented Elizabeth's and Conner's relationship, she knew that Elizabeth would never deliberately come in between a friendship.

_I so need a boyfriend right now,_ Tia thought to herself. She needed someone other than Conner to talk about her problems to. Tia found herself thinking about West, but then she shook her thoughts away. Sure, he had seemed interested in her, but that did not mean that he _was _interested. Right?

But whatever she told herself, Tia could not suppress the tiny glimmer of hope. _If West really is as nice as he seems to be, I should be making a greater effort to get to know him, _she thought. But first she needed expert advice.

Tia walked to the phone in her room and was just about to pick it up to call Jessica when it suddenly rang. Startled, she answered it cautiously.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this Tia Ramirez?" came an unknown male voice.

"Yeah, who's this?"

"Finally I caught hold of the right one! Um, hey, this is West."

Tia was shocked into silence. This was _way _freaky. _Just when I had been thinking about him_. _Freaky, freaky, freaky._

"Um, how did you get my number?" she asked, her voice a bit hoarse.

"Well, from the directory. But I ended up calling about four Ramirez houses till I got your house. Oh, but please don't think I'm a stalker and hang up," he added in the end.

Tia laughed, and was just about to say, "Oh my god, that was just how my old boyfriend caught hold of me-," but she stopped herself. Thinking, or rather _speaking, _about Trent would just make her miss him. Besides, why on earth would he want to know that?

On the brighter side, she was quite flattered and impressed that he had gone through so much effort to talk to her. Now she could let the glimmer of hope take over. There was no doubt that he was interested.

"So, stalker, what makes you call me?" she said playfully, grinning goofily. Thank god West couldn't see her right now.

"Well, usually when a guy goes through all the pain of calling random Ramirez households to catch hold of one girl, I kinda think it means he wants to ask the girl out."

"Ah, you're one of those straightforward guys, aren't you?"

"Damn right I am," West said proudly. Tia could hear the smile in his voice.

"So go ahead and ask me out."

"Alright," he took a dramatic deep breath. "Tia Ramirez, will you do me the honour of going out with me?"

"'Do me the honour'?" Tia teased.

"Aw, c'mon, a guy's trying here. That's the only thing I could come up with."

"Alright, alright," she laughed. "But we've talked only once. Don't you want to get to know me better before asking me out? How do I know for sure that you're not a stalker? And how do you know that I'm not a crazed killer on the loose?"

"Are you?"

"Well, no," Tia giggled.

"Good. And I'm not a stalker. And that's all we need to know for now. C'mon, we can get to know each other over a cup of good ol' coffee."

"Okay, you win. You sure know how to make a girl go out with you."

"I sure do," he admitted, not too modestly. "So, meet me at HOJ in half an hour?"

"Sure, see you there."

Tia hung up, excited. Her problems were forgotten for the moment. She sent a silent prayer of thanks to Cupid, for shooting his arrow in the right direction.

* * *

Jessica was working at HOJ when she saw Tia walk in with a hot guy. She saw her friend tell the guy something and he nodded and walked towards an empty table while Tia walked towards the counter.

"My my, who's the hottie?" Jessica said as soon as Tia reached the counter.

Tia grinned proudly. "He's the guy I met in History today. His name is West. And believe it or not, he actually went around calling all the Ramirez's in this city till he caught hold of me."

"Wow," Jessica looked at her friend appraisingly. "Someone's made quite an impression."

"I know!" Tia's grin widened. "Anyway, I have to get back to him, so can you just whip up a mocha latte and a cappuccino?"

"Sure."

After Tia had collected and paid for her orders and gone, Jessica leaned on the counter with a hand on her chin. It was hardly crowded since it was a weekday, and Jeremy had gone for his break, so she entertained herself by watching Tia and West chatting it up. Those two were clearly interested in each other. It was painfully obvious. They kept looking at each other dreamily when either one of them was speaking. Jessica grinned and shook her head.

Jessica's mood darkened as Mike suddenly popped into her mind, just like it had been doing all day. She had avoided Mike all day. She didn't even know why she was doing so. It wasn't like he knew anything about her, just that she had run away from him the previous day without any reason.

She had caught him looking at her once or twice during Art that day, but she had ignored him. She knew that he was curious about her. She saw it in his eyes. He wanted to know more about her. But he was practically one of the only people who didn't know anything about her past, and she wanted to keep it that way. And maybe that was why she had been avoiding him.

Jessica picked up a rag and started cleaning the counter just as the door bell tinkled, announcing a customer's arrival. She looked up, plastering her "how may I help you" smile on her face, and froze.

Mike had just walked in.

* * *

Mike was surprised to see Jessica behind the counter of HOJ. He saw her freeze as she spotted him, like a deer caught in headlights. He knew she had been trying to avoid him, but he couldn't figure out why exactly. And he was determined to find out the reason. She couldn't escape from him now since there was no one else to cover for her at the counter.

Mike walked straight towards the counter and he could literally see her shrink away, her eyes darting around the place for an escape route. He was actually disappointed that she wanted to escape from him so desperately. What had he done?

Jessica seemed to have realised that she could not escape from this situation and resigned herself to face him. As he approached the counter, she gave him a fake professional smile and said, "Hi, what would you like?"

"Jessica, you can't avoid me forever," Mike said, coming straight to the point.

She looked taken aback at his blunt approach, but quickly rearranged her facial muscles to adopt a neutral expression. Once again, Mike noted the guarded look in her eyes.

"I wasn't avoiding you," she replied, clearly lying.

"C'mon, any blind person can see that you are. Look, I just want to get things straight. I don't know what I said or did yesterday, but clearly I did do something to make you run away like that. And whatever it is, I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, Mike," she said. "It wasn't your fault. I'm sorry I bolted without any reason yesterday."

"Can you at least tell me what's wrong?" Mike asked, concerned.

Jessica looked down at the counter and was silent for a long moment. Then she looked up, shaking her head.

"It's nothing really," was her short reply.

"You can trust me, you know."

She looked at him, into his eyes, searching for any trace of doubt. She started to open her mouth to say something, but just then the door bell tinkled again. Both of them looked towards the door.

Three girls had come in, and Mike vaguely remembered seeing the one in the middle with the dark chestnut hair in the hallway talking with Will Simons, who he knew was the quarterback of the Sweet Valley High football team. He didn't recognise the other two but they seemed to be the middle one's 

sidekicks, by the way they followed her and kept their eyes trained on her, as though waiting for an order.

Without paying any attention to them, Mike turned back to Jessica, only to see that her face had gone pale and she was staring at the girls almost in..._fear?_

"You okay?" he asked her, reaching out for her shoulder, but she recoiled from him and took a step back, surprising him. _Now_ what had he done? Why did she seem so scared of these girls?

"Jessica Wakefield," the girl with the chestnut hair said smoothly. Then she flicked her eyes over to him, and continued, "I see you've caught hold of a new one."

"Melissa, don't," Jessica whispered fiercely, her face pale and tight.

"So you're working your way through the new crowd now?" Melissa continued, as though Jessica hadn't spoken.

"Wasn't the old Sweet Valley crowd enough for you?" sneered one of Melissa's sidekicks, the black haired one. Mike was too shocked to say anything. What in the world was going on here?

"Once a slut, always-," the one with curly auburn hair started saying but was interrupted by a girl's voice from behind Mike.

"Say one more word and I'll tackle you. I'm not kidding." Mike turned around to see the girl he had seen with Jessica the previous morning, her eyes flashing.

"Tia, this does not concern you," Melissa said coolly.

"It damn well concerns me!" Tia exploded, startling the three girls. "Now before I do anything I regret, back off. Go. Away. Otherwise I might just let it slip to Coach about our wonderful team unity. She has been asking me about it, you know."

Melissa laughed casually, but Mike saw a hint of fear in her eyes. For someone who was barely over five feet, this Tia girl sure knew how to handle people. Mike was impressed.

"C'mon girls," Melissa said, smirking. "We don't need to waste our time here anymore. The damage is already done."

The girls walked out, their heads held high and with Melissa in the lead. Mike saw the rage in Tia as she followed them out with her eyes. After they were gone, both Mike and Tia turned towards the counter.

"Oh damn," Tia sighed.

Jessica was gone.

* * *

Elizabeth was dancing her life out. She was dancing with random people and was having a lot of fun. She had already danced with two cute guys, which was pretty much just harmless dancing, before moving on to dancing on her own.

After about twenty more minutes of dancing, she decided to take a break. She needed some fresh air. She went up the steps and on to the balcony which looked over the dance floor, on her way buying a coke from the bar. She leaned on the balcony railing, sipping her coke and watching all these happy people dance. Even though she was trying her level best to seem happy, she was never really a great actress.

"Why so sad, beautiful?"

Elizabeth looked to her left and saw a guy coming to stand next to her. He was taller than Elizabeth, but he was not exactly a towering figure. But one word came into her mind as she saw him- gorgeous. With his dark brown hair that just grazed his shoulders, greyish-green eyes and his chiselled features, he definitely qualified as eye-candy. Elizabeth smiled.

"Life," was all she said.

"Ah, that's always the reason," he said knowledgeably. "Someone break your heart?"

"Good guess," she replied, smiling sadly.

"Well, I've got a great solution for that," when she raised her eyebrows questioningly, he said, "Dance with me and you'll forget all your problems. I promise you that."

Elizabeth laughed. "Do you use that on all damsels in distress?"

"Only the pretty ones," he said, coming close enough for her to get a whiff of his aftershave. "Come on, just one dance."

"Okay, but if your technique doesn't work, you have to buy me a drink."

"I'd do that even if it works, which I'm confident it will. I'm Seth, by the way."

"Elizabeth."

"Nice name. Come, let's go now."

He held out a hand and she took it, letting him lead her to the dance floor. Very soon they were showing off their best moves to each other. Elizabeth used all her sexy moves that she usually saved for Conner. Never in her life had she imagined herself dancing sexily with a guy she had just met, letting him keep his hands on her hips as she moved.

The song suddenly changed to a slow one, and Elizabeth noticed all the couples coming together. She looked up at Seth and saw that he was smiling at her. She smiled back and let him pull her close. She put her head on his shoulder and they moved slowly. _Jess would freak if she saw me now, _Elizabeth thought, smiling.

She felt Seth nudge her head with his chin and looked up. He had a look in his eyes. The I'm-gonna-kiss-you look. Elizabeth's heart started racing. Should she kiss him? Or should she just move away?

Before she could come to a decision, he leaned forward and placed his lips on hers. _Hmm, not bad, _she thought as he deepened the kiss. She didn't exactly feel any sparks go up her spine, but it felt really good, and she lost herself in the kiss.

When they finally broke apart, Seth grinned and said, "Wow, the guy must've hurt you real bad."

"He did," she said simply, shrugging.

"You...want to go somewhere quieter?" he asked, a bit uncertainly. She knew what he meant. He wanted to take her upstairs to the "lounge", where people went to make out.

"Sure," she heard herself reply. Seth grinned again and started leading her upstairs.

_What am I getting myself into?_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Jessica walked towards the parking lot, slowly. She was trying her best to hide her tears, but her eyes refused to dry up. It was like a water hose had been left open and couldn't be turned off. Why did Melissa make it a point to ruin her life? Didn't she have her own life to be concerned with? Scratch that. She _didn't _have a life.

Here was one guy who hadn't known anything about her life, with whom there had been a chance of starting over. But that was ruined as well now. She was sure Mike would think she was a skank now. Back at the House of Java, she had almost told Mike everything. His eyes had seemed honest, and there had been genuine concern in them.

"Jessica!" someone called out to her from behind, just as she reached her jeep. She turned around and her eyes widened.

"What are you doing here??" she asked Mike, surprised

"I need to talk to you," he said

Jessica crossed her arms over her chest defensively. "What is it?" she asked cautiously.

"About what those girls said inside-,"

"Look, it's up to you what you want to believe," Jessica interrupted him, tensing up. "If you want to believe those girls, go ahead. But all I'm asking you to do is not to judge me based on a one-sided story. There are two sides to every story."

"Well, I don't believe them," he said simply.

Jessica faltered. "W-what?"

"I don't believe them," he repeated. When she just stared at him, he continued, "Look, I've seen plenty of girls like them. They have no life, and they get some sort of sadistic pleasure from ruining others'. That's all I came to say. That I don't believe what they said."

Jessica could have cried with relief right then. And she almost did, but stopped herself. No guy likes to have to face a crying girl. Mike had said the exact things that had been running through her mind. He was actually on her side.

"Thank you," was all she could say.

Mike came forward and after hesitating for a split second, he took her hand. Jessica felt an unexpected warmth radiating from his hand, and the warmth spread to her body. She stared at their hands, uncertain of what to say.

"You know," he said, clearing his throat. "You could still tell me the truth. I'm a good listener. And I don't judge people that easily."

Jessica looked up into his expectant eyes. He was actually willing to listen to her dark and twisted story. To know both the sides of the story. But she knew she wasn't yet ready to tell him everything. She needed to know him better. To trust him.

"I wish I could, Mike. But...,"

"You need to trust me first," he finished for her. "I get it. I can totally relate to that. And I'm willing to wait. Just know that I'm here, ready to listen, anytime."

He stroked her hand with his thumb once, sending an electric jolt down her spine, then turned around and walked away. Jessica looked at her hand, smiling.

It was gettin harder and harder for her not to fall for this guy.

* * *

"Seth, stop," Elizabeth said for about the hundredth time, as Seth's hand once again started sliding up her thigh. She was starting to get uncomfortable. It had been feeling pretty good in the beginning, but he seemed to want more than she could give.

"What's wrong? Don't you like it?" he whispered, kissing her neck.

"I do, but...it's just too fast."

"I thought you wanted to get back at your guy. Don't you?"

"Yes, but-,"

"Then this is the best way to do it," he cut her off, and started kissing her again. An image of Conner flashed through her mind, and she cringed inwardly. Would he have gone around making out with random girls if it had been the other way around? _Yes he would, _said a voice in her head.

With renewed anger, Elizabeth put a hand behind Seth's neck, pulling him closer and kissing him more forcefully. Sensing her determination, Seth's hand started travelling up her skirt once again. Elizabeth almost groaned out loud. Couldn't he just get it into his head that she didn't want to go there?

"Hmm, don't," she said, pushing him away. He moved off her slowly and sat up.

"What's your deal?" he asked her, annoyed.

"What do you mean? I already told you I don't want to go there. I'm not yet ready."

"God, you girls are all the same. You lead guys on till the very last moment and then suddenly stop, saying that you aren't ready."

"I wasn't leading you on," Elizabeth said.

"Look, we're here because you're using me to get back at this guy. And I totally don't mind as long as I get the good stuff. So will you please just drop the act of preserving your dignity and finish what you came here for?"

"I didn't come here for sex!" Elizabeth exclaimed, shocked.

"Whatever," he shrugged, obviously not believing her. "Okay, look, can we just not talk and make out?"

Elizabeth was disgusted. No way was she sticking her tongue down this guy's throat anymore.

"Sorry, I need to go," she said shortly, and started to get up but he pulled her back down, sliding his slimy arm around her waist.

"I said finish what you came here for," he said in a firm, authoritative voice.

"Are you always used to getting what you want?" Elizabeth said in disgust.

"I'm just not in the mood for your friggin' virgin Mary act," he replied, looking beyond pissed off.

"It's not a bloody act!" Elizabeth exclaimed, disturbing few of the neighbouring couples. "Now get your paws off me. I need to leave."

"Not so fast, gorgeous," he started pulling her towards him, trying to kiss her. Elizabeth tried releasing the grip on her waist but his grip was firm.

"Get off me, you slimy bastard!" she practically yelled.

"Is there a problem here?" Elizabeth looked up in relief at the twenty-something guy who had just broken away from his girlfriend and come over to them.

"Yes!" Elizabeth exclaimed, shooting Seth a disgusted glare.

"Come on, baby, you can't take the help of someone else because of a little argument," Seth said, draping an arm over my shoulder and giving a fake smile. The guy looked confused. He looked from Elizabeth to Seth, wondering who to believe.

"Don't believe this jerk," Elizabeth said, pushing Seth away. She tried getting up again, but Seth caught hold of her arm, that fake smile still plastered on his face. Elizabeth tried wrenching her arm away, but he had an iron grip on her hand. "Let _go _of me!"

"Baby, stop struggling," he said. His smile was gone.

"Hey, man, you'd better let go of her before I do something I'll regret," Elizabeth's saviour said in a scary voice. Seth must've heard the threat in his voice, because his iron grip loosened a little. Elizabeth seized the opportunity and wrenched her arm free. She ran out, muttering a hurried "thanks" to the guy who had saved her. Seth got up too to follow her.

She ran as fast as she could, but unfortunately her heels slowed her down and just as she burst outside through the Riot's doors, Seth caught up with her and pushed her against the wall, panting.

"Listen, bitch, you can't get away this easily," he spat out. "I don't waste my time so that I get to play only a miserable game of footsie. I'm here for the whole game, and I ain't gonna let you go till I get what I want."

_What the hell do I do? _Elizabeth thought frantically.

* * *

"Argh!" Conner kicked at his bedroom wall in frustration. A pain immediately shot up through his leg and he winced. "Dammit!"

Why the _hell _wasn't Elizabeth back yet from the Riot? It was nearing 10 pm and she was still not home. Megan had told him that Elizabeth was at the Riot when he'd asked and he hadn't minded at the time. Maybe she had needed to let off some steam. But how bloody long did it take to let off steam?

Conner paced his room angrily, letting out short bursts of breath. _I shouldn't even be bothered so much, _he thought, shaking his head. He knew he didn't have the right to track her anymore, much less be bothered about her whereabouts, but it was an old habit that didn't want to leave.

After about ten more minutes of pacing, he decided to go there himself and check out what was keeping her. If she saw him, he could just act surprised or ignore her. _Yes, that's what I'll do, _he told himself as he grabbed his car keys off his nightstand and headed out the door.

Halfway there, Conner started to wonder whether following her around like a spy was a bit too much, but it was too late to decide now. He reached there in about ten minutes and parked his car. Then he walked around towards the entrance. And that's when he stopped dead.

_Who_ was that guy? And what the _hell _was he doing to Elizabeth?

He broke into a run, and as he reached closer to them, he heard Elizabeth's cries of protest and felt a hot boiling rage inside him. At what seemed to be the speed of lightning, Conner ran towards them, shoved the guy off Elizabeth and started punching him. Once. Twice. Thrice.

"Conner!" Elizabeth's voice made him stop as he raised his fist to punch the guy for the fourth time. "Stop! Please."

Conner got up slowly, shaking his hand which was now throbbing. Then he picked up the guy by his collar and shoved him against the wall.

"Stay away from her, you get me?" he growled, through gritted teeth. The guy, unable to speak because of the pain, just nodded. Then Conner let him go, throwing him on the ground.

"Come, Liz, let's go home," he said, turning to Elizabeth, who was crying softly now. He put an arm around her and started leading her away.

"You know, it ain't completely my fault," came the guy's voice from behind them. Conner felt Elizabeth go stiff, and he turned around, his eyes flashing. This guy was just asking for another round of getting beaten up.

"You actually have the nerve to say something now?" Conner spat out angrily.

"Just hear me out, man, before she fills your ears with her own tales. I wouldn't exactly have pursued her if I hadn't known that a part of her wanted it. You see, when I came on to her, she didn't resist at all, and we ended up in the lounge. And I have to tell you, she's _good_."

"You little piece of-," Conner started going towards the guy again, but Elizabeth pulled hard at his arm to stop him.

"Conner, please, let's just go home," she said in a pleading voice. Looking at her tired and pleading eyes, Conner softened a little and felt a tug at his heart. He then turned towards the guy.

"I'm leaving you this time, man. But if I _ever _see you around her again, I swear I'm gonna kill you."

"Oh I'm not making the mistake of going behind her again."

Saying that, he turned around and walked away. After making sure that the guy was gone, Conner gently led Elizabeth to the car and sat her inside.

The drive home was quiet. Conner was wondering whether or not to bring the subject up. He decided to go for it while the matter was still on their minds. _Rip it off like Band-Aid, man. _

When he pulled into their driveway, Conner turned towards Elizabeth and asked, "So, uh, was what the guy said true?"

"Conner, can we please not do this now?" she asked, looking at him warily.

"I just want an answer, Liz. Yes, or no? Did you go to the lounge with that guy?"

Elizabeth hesitated, then looked down at her hands. And that was all Conner needed know. Before he knew it, he was out of the car and storming towards the house.

"Conner, wait!" he heard Elizabeth shout out behind him as he walked into his house. He whirled around, his eyes hard.

"What?" he hissed. She recoiled from him and he saw fear in her eyes.

"Conner, it's...not what it looks like," she said weakly. "I was feeling depressed. And then Seth came and-,"

"Oh, so that thing has a name is it?"

"Please hear me out, Conner."

"I've heard enough," he said shortly. He then turned around and started storming up the stairs.

"Conner, please listen," she pleaded, coming behind him.

"Get _out _of my face!" he shouted, turning around to face her once again. She flinched. He looked at her for a long moment before saying, "I can't believe you would stoop so low, Liz. You disgust me."

Saying that, he went up the rest of the steps and slammed his bedroom door shut behind him, but not before getting a good look at Elizabeth's crying face.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: Wow, it's been a really long time since I last updated. School's started so I'm pretty much loaded with exams and tests. God. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I might not be too regular in updating, but I'll try. **

**About the chapter- I'm not too happy with this one, but as I said, I was kinda busy. I promise I'll make the next chapter better. I've started working on it, so let's see how it turns out. **

**Okay then, I've rambled on enough, so go ahead and read :)**

**Chapter Eight**

"Hey, there." Tia turned around to see West walking towards her, a lopsided smile on his face.

"Hey, yourself," she said, flashing him her 1000-watt smile. Seeing West first thing in the morning was definitely going on her top ten list of favourite things.

"Headed for History?" he asked, pointing in the direction she had been walking.

"Yup, but first let me stop off at my locker."

She reached her locker and as she took out her books, West leaned against the next locker, watching her.

"Are you staring at me?" Tia asked, smiling coyly as she closed her locker.

"It's hard not to," he flirted, grinning. But then his expression turned serious. "Hey, I wanted to know something. What was the whole thing yesterday at the coffee shop? I mean, after you practically trampled on those girls, you pretty much stormed out."

Tia's smile faltered. Should she tell West everything? After a split second's hesitation, she decided to tell him, but not the whole truth.

"That girl you saw behind the counter, who was being attacked brutally, was Jessica," she told him, leaning against her locker. "She's on the cheerleading team with me and she's a great girl. One of my best friends. Well basically, a lot happened to her at the beginning of this year with this jerk, Will. And now Will's girlfriend Melissa, the one with brown hair who you saw yesterday, won't let Jess live her life in peace. And that's why I got so mad. This has been going on since the beginning of the senior year."

"Wow," West let out a low whistle. "So that's why you stormed out huh?"

"Yeah, I mean, come on, give the girl a break!" Tia exclaimed. Both of them were quiet for a moment. Then she realized something and smiled sheepishly. "Oh God, this means we had only half a date. I'm sorry!"

"Make it up to me by going out with me again this Friday."

Tia looked up at his grinning face and she grinned back. "Only if you allow me to pay," she said, and when he started protesting, she raised a hand and said, "Nuh-uh, you won't make me budge from my decision. I literally stranded you yesterday and I have to make it up to you."

"Hmm, a woman with her own principles. I'm impressed."

Tia smiled. She had impressed him! She did a mental dance before heading for History. As she walked down the hallway with West, she couldn't help thinking that her life seemed to be the only one that was going normally.

* * *

Conner sighed in irritation as a group of sophomore girls broke into giggles as soon as he passed by them. This had been going on all day. News of his break-up with Elizabeth had spread around the school and now almost every single girl was trying to get his attention. Heck, a girl had even come up to him that morning to invite him to her pool party. Nothing better than twenty girls half his size jumping up and down trying to get his attention.

Conner smirked, shaking his head. If it had been a year ago, he might have gone, but now there wasn't even an iota of interest in him. _You're freakin' whipped, man, _Conner thought bitterly. What had Elizabeth done to him?

Almost as soon as he thought of her name, he spotted her in the hallway, taking out her books from her locker. She looked sad, but even sad looked beautiful on her. He stood and watched her for a moment before continuing his journey down the hallway. But before he could take two steps forward, a pretty brunette swooped in front of him, blocking his way.

"Hi, Conner," she said, smiling flirtatiously up at him.

"Hey...," he smiled in a non-committed manner. He recognized her from few of his classes and racked his brain for her name but nothing came up.

"Um, I heard about you and Elizabeth. I'm so sorry it had to end," she said, not noticing his lack of interest.

_Yeah right, _Conner thought. This girl had obviously been practicing that look of sympathy in front of the mirror for days. Conner shot a look at Elizabeth and saw her watching them. Clearly she had heard what the girl had said.

"Yeah, well," was all he said, shrugging.

"Okay, I know this is a hard time and all for you and I totally get it," the girl said in one breath. _Here goes, _thought Conner. He just looked at her, not saying anything till she continued, "I was just wondering, if you would like to, you know, catch some coffee after school or something. I'm a pretty good listener. Or if you want some comforting, you could come home and..."

Conner's eyes widened in surprise, as she let the implication of her invite hang in the air. This was new. He almost laughed out loud. A girl whose name he didn't even know was actually calling him home. _And _she looked like she was expecting a yes.

"Look, I'm going to tell you what I've been telling every girl since morning," Conner began. "I'm not interested. I don't know you. Heck, I don't even know your name. So please, _please_, go and tell all your girlfriends that Conner McDermott is single but totally not available. He's not looking for anyone, not even for a one-time hook up. And you can throw in that he's a jerk as well."

With that, Conner walked away, leaving the girl staring at him stupidly. He also caught sight of Elizabeth's shocked face. _In your face, Wakefield, _he thought, smirking.

* * *

Elizabeth didn't know how she was managing to sit through Creative Writing class with Conner sitting just three rows in front of her. Every time she glanced at the back of his head, she got reminded of the scene in the hallway earlier that day. And every time she thought of that, she felt a stab of pain.

Conner had changed. She had changed him. She would have been on the top of the world if only she hadn't realized what this meant. That she had tried to move on from him by hooking up with a random guy while he tried to move on like a normal person. This basically translated to the fact that she was a skank. And that was what he clearly meant when he said that he wasn't looking for any one-time hook ups.

Elizabeth sighed sadly and tried to focus on what was being said in class, but she tried in vain. She got distracted every time Conner shifted in his seat. Finally, when Elizabeth was starting to think that she would have to stuff her mouth with paper to keep herself from screaming, the bell rang.

Conner stretched in his seat and got up, not even glancing back at her. God, how could he be so calm? Girls were practically hauling themselves at him from all directions and he looked like he didn't even care. _Typical Conner, _Elizabeth thought. She got up and started gathering her books and Conner gave her the briefest of glances. She tried catching his eye, but he looked away and rushed out of class.

All Elizabeth could do was heave a huge sigh. She walked out of class and was very conscious of the smug looks that all the girls were giving her. _The perks of breaking up with a hot guy, _she thought. _Yeah, right_.

"Hey, Liz," Elizabeth turned around to see Tia coming towards her, a cute guy by her side.

"Hey," Elizabeth replied, smiling in relief to have someone she knew walk by her side. She looked at the guy and then at Tia, her eyes asking her friend the question: _Who's the hottie?_

"Oh," Tia said, realizing that introductions needed to be made. "Liz, this is West. West, Elizabeth."

"Hey," West held his hand out, smiling. "I'm the one who's trying to steal your friend's heart. Got any ideas how I can do that?"

"Well you could start by taking her out to the movies and buying her a large popcorn only for herself," Elizabeth said, laughing. "She's known for her famous popcorn eating skills. She can actually eat an extra large popcorn but I guess it's safer to stick with large."

"Seriously?" West asked, looking at Tia disbelievingly.

"Yup, and I'm proud of it," Tia declared, smiling proudly.

"I don't believe you."

"Haha, we'll see on Friday, then."

"Okay, if it's actually true, I'll treat you to ice cream," West decided.

Elizabeth had to smile. These two were really cute together. She decided to go to her next class and leave them alone, but just as she made excuses and started walking away, Tia caught up with her.

"Liz, you okay?" she asked, her face serious. "I mean, do you need to talk or something?"

Elizabeth tried to smile. "I'm okay, Tee. There's nothing to talk about."

"Are you sure? Because you seem more down than you were yesterday. Did Conner say anything Conner-like yesterday? I could talk to him again, you know."

"No," Elizabeth quickly said. In no way did she want Tia to find out about Seth. She was sure that if Tia did find out, she wouldn't be on Elizabeth's side anymore. And Tia was one of the only people on her side right now. "There's nothing more to tell."

"Okay then," Tia shrugged. "If you need to vent, Liz, just come to me. Seriously, venting helps a lot."

Elizabeth smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Tee. That's really sweet. Anyway, I have to get to my next class now. You'd better get back to your guy there."

Tia grinned. "Isn't he adorable?"

"Beyond," Elizabeth laughed at Tia's love struck expression. "Catch you later, then."

As Elizabeth walked away, her smile faded as she thought about how she had just lied to one of her best friends on her face. And she couldn't help but feel even more of a skank.

* * *

Jessica sat in her Art class, doodling as usual. She had come early to class once again, not bothering to socialize with her friends like she usually did in the breaks between classes.

After about five minutes of doodling, Jessica realized that she had been scratching out "Mystery Man" from her previous doodling and replacing it with Mike Miles. Jessica sighed dreamily. It was only the third day of school, and already she was falling for a guy.

Jessica grinned. She could feel the old Jessica taking over. It was clearly a time for change. She felt she was ready for a new relationship.

But the change needed time to occur. Jessica felt her happy mood dissolve in an instant. She couldn't trust Mike. Not yet. In fact, she couldn't trust any new person at the moment.

_Ugh, since when did my life get so complicated? _She thought, placing her forehead on her desk. She felt someone slide into the desk next to hers. _Jade. Finally._

"Jade, I'm dying," Jessica said, with her head still on the desk.

"So you've given me a nickname already?" came the deep, teasing voice. "I thought we just got started."

_Shit. Why doesn't that sound like Jade? _Jessica thought stupidly, her head snapping up. She looked up to see Mike's grinning face. _Maybe 'cause it _isn't _Jade._

"Think we should take it a bit slow?" Jessica teased back, recovering quickly from her shock. "Want me to start calling you _dahling _first?"

Mike laughed appreciatively. "I really don't know how people do it. Calling each other darling and stuff, I mean."

"Seriously," Jessica agreed. "And I don't like it when guys say 'babe' all the time. I mean, do they think that they sound cool? I would prefer being called babe only by a guy who doesn't sound sleazy while saying it."

"Right you are, babe," Mike said, grinning cheekily. Jessica's heart did a back flip. It sounded perfect on his lips. Nevertheless, Jessica grinned and shook her head. She opened her mouth to retort, but just then she caught sight of someone walking through the door, and her face paled.

Melissa walked in and looked around class, spotting Jessica and Mike. Her eyes widened for a split second, but then she smiled smugly and sat down. The look in her eyes said it all. She wasn't going to let Jessica live in peace.

"How come she's here?" Mike asked, looking over to where Jessica's eyes were trained. "She wasn't here before."

"Um," Jessica's voice came out hoarse. "I don't know. I think she took this up as an extra subject or something..."

"You do realize that I still don't believe her, don't you?" Mike asked seriously.

"I do, but-,"

"Then stop looking so panicked," he said, cutting her off. "Her words won't get through to me."

Jessica looked up at his determined eyes. All she could offer him was a weak smile.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Lol, I don't even remember the last time I updated. I wish I could update faster, but I've come to the stage where I've got the whole story planned out in my head but I can't put it into words. That, coupled with all the extra work my teachers keep piling on me, makes it hard to sit down and write.  
**

**Anyway, just to warn you people, I'm not happy with this chapter. It's kind of like a filler, except for the end. But please bear with me. I promise I'll make the next chapter more interesting.  
**

**Chapter Nine**

Conner strummed the first few chords of his new song on his guitar, and sang the first two lines.

"Baby, I know I was the one who left you,

But that didn't mean I stopped loving you too..."

Conner stopped playing and groaned out loud. Was it just him, or did that sound extremely corny?

_Deal with it, McDermott, _he thought to himself. He had tried over and over again, but every new song he wrote seemed to revolve around Elizabeth. And not just any heartfelt song about her. _Corny _songs. So finally, he had decided to just go ahead and sing some corny love song. He didn't have anything better to sing at the moment. And anyway, he hadn't yet finished writing this song, so maybe he still had time to make it better.

Conner sat down to work. He was determined to make the song better. Something that would be as much of a hit as his other song 'Stone Heart' had been. He racked his brain for almost two hours, forgetting homework and anything not related to his music. He stayed on his bed, writing and rewriting lyrics.

Finally, when his page seemed to be covered in scratches and his scrawl of a handwriting, Conner sat back to read his work. It was still sketchy in some places, and some lines still seemed corny, including the first two lines, which he had decided to keep because even though it sounded corny, it was true. But he thought it was passable. Enough to make someone sit and listen instead of getting up and walking away in disgust.

Conner got off his bed and stretched. _Time for a break._ But just as he was about to go down and grab something to eat, the phone rang. He walked across his room and picked it up on the third ring.

"Hello?"

"Anti-social man," Andy's voice greeted him from the other end.

"Hey, man, what's up?"

"Okay, so I was getting bored sitting around at home and playing Quake III, which I'm getting quite good at...except that I keep getting killed. Anyway, I made some calls and we're all planning on meeting up tonight to unwind from all the stress that seems to have been in the air lately. So meet us at the Riot tonight."

"Who all are coming?" Conner asked, his fingers tightening around the phone cord.

Andy exhaled impatiently. "Can't you just come?"

"Who all are coming," Conner repeated through gritted teeth.

"If you absolutely must know, Evan, Jade, Ken, Maria, Jess...Tia...and, um, Liz," Andy finished hesitantly.

"Count me out."

"But the others-," Andy started saying, but Conner hung up before he could finish his sentence.

_Great going, _he sighed. He was starting to feel quite immature. But he couldn't be bothered about that. He had to concentrate on unclenching his fist, slow down his racing heart and keep it from twisting painfully. His appetite seemed to have disappeared as well.

Funny how one girl could affect him in so many ways. And funny how he was letting her do so.

* * *

Elizabeth sat on her bed, twisting her bed sheet into knots. She was supposed to be at the Riot in another fifteen minutes and she hadn't even made the effort to get ready. She was thinking about just ditching her friends and staying at home. Tia would definitely kill her. She had personally called Elizabeth and bugged her till she said that she would come. But Elizabeth would have to deal with Tia's death glares. Either that, or spend the next two hours forcing smiles and laughs.

She decided to stick with her plan of staying at home. Mrs. Sandborn was out with her usual club friends. Megan had gone over to her friend's place to study. And Conner would most probably be locked in his room, not going to the Riot thinking that she would be there.

Elizabeth sighed. This whole thing of Conner avoiding her at every chance was getting old. She was almost tempted to go over to Conner's room and beg till he took her back, but even she had some amount of dignity left.

Elizabeth's stomach growled loudly without any warning. When was the last time she'd eaten? She couldn't really remember. _Ugh, you're turning into a complete damsel in distress, _she thought in disgust. She got out of her messy bed and headed down to the kitchen to grab something to eat.

Just as she was in the pantry, getting a cup of yoghurt, she heard Conner's heavy footsteps coming towards the kitchen. Trying to appear nonchalant, Elizabeth turned around casually, just in time to see him walk in. His eyes flicked over to her and widened ever so slightly in surprise.

"Thought you were at the Riot," he muttered, walking over to the fridge and grabbing a soda.

Now it was Elizabeth's turn to be surprised. Was he actually talking to her?

"I was supposed to go, but I-,"

"I wasn't asking you," he cut her short, and then walked out.

Elizabeth's nonchalant demeanour vanished and her shoulders slumped forward. When was this going to end?

* * *

"Shoot," Jessica muttered, rubbing vigorously at the orange stain that was forming on her white shirt. How had she managed to tip half a glass of orange juice on herself? Now she had to rush to the Laundromat immediately if she wanted to get the stain out and if she wanted to be at the Riot on time. Nowadays she wasn't even using Lila's million facilities to get her clothes washed. Who knew whether Lila would "accidently" add some sort of dye to her clothes on seeing them?

Jessica quickly changed, gathered all her other clothes that needed to be washed, took the stained shirt and rushed to her jeep. While driving to the Laundromat, Jessica started thinking about how Melissa would affect her Art classes now. Every move she made around Mike would be reported to her minions, who would then go around spreading the news to the whole school that 'Jessica the slut' was back in action. Jessica had to know this by now. She'd faced it before. Even though Melissa hadn't done anything today, Jessica knew that the witch would strike soon.

Jessica pulled into the parking lot of the Laundromat and sighed. Maybe this war would never end. Even though the whole Will incident had gotten over so long ago, she knew that Melissa would never rest till Will was far away from Jessica.

But first things first, instead of thinking so much on the situation, she had to get this stupid stain out of her shirt. Jessica stuffed all her clothes into a washing machine, switched it on, and then sat on the machine next to the one she was using, fidgeting and looking at her watch every five seconds. Within two minutes, she was already bored and irritated. There was no one else other than her and an old, anti-social lady in the room, so she decided to occupy herself by staring at her clothes being washed.

"You know, it's real fun to sit inside the drum of a washing machine," an all-too-familiar deep voice said behind Jessica, making a goofy grin spread across her face immediately.

"Yeah?" she turned around to face Mike, all thoughts of rushing to the Riot disappearing immediately. "Had any experience recently?"

"Nah," he shook his head, grinning. "When I was a kid, I used to sit inside the drum and tell my mom that I wanted to have my bath there."

Jessica laughed. "I used to go in there and pretend to give my Barbie dolls a full body and hair wash in it. You know, like a day at the spa. Unfortunately my mom would never allow me to actually switch on the machine with me in it. I wonder why..." Jessica pretended to ponder on this.

"Ah, those good ol' days," he said, chuckling. "When we were still small enough to fit inside washing machines."

"And when we were still young enough to not have any problems other than being disgusted about having to sit next to a boy."

"Seriously," he agreed. "Life was so simple back then."

"Hmm, so simple," Jessica echoed, staring off into space.

"God, when did life get so complicated? I mean, I know we're still technically 'kids', but even at this age we face a lot. It'll just get worse as we grow older."

Jessica didn't reply. She was yet again pulled back to her first few weeks of senior year. The embarrassment, humiliation, and worst of all, regret. Her life now was constantly filled with 'what ifs'. What if she had never made the first move with Will? What if she had never called him home? Her whole senior year would have changed. She would never have to constantly avoid running into Will. She would never have lost her best friend. Everything would have been different. But she probably wouldn't have ever tried making friends with Elizabeth's group- the ones she now called her real friends.

_But still, life would have been much better, _she thought. _And who knows? Maybe the whole Tia group could have gotten along with Lila and Amy. We would form the weirdest bunch._

"Lost in space?" Mike's voice jerked Jessica out of her thoughts.

"Huh? Oh yeah, um, sorry," Jessica apologized, suddenly noticing that Mike had moved closer to her, sitting at the edge of the machine next to hers.

"No worries. I do that a lot myself. So, is it time yet for me to get a gist of your...dark and twisted past, if I can call it that?"

Jessica smiled. "Dark and twisted, huh? Yep, you can definitely call it that. And, um, maybe I'll tell you some other time?"

Mike looked disappointed for a second, but he quickly covered it up and said, "Sure, sure. Take your time. I said I would wait."

Then, like the day before, he took her hand in his. An electric jolt shot up Jessica's spine. This was stronger than the reaction she had felt the previous day. She looked up to see Mike watching her closely.

"Don't tell me you didn't feel that," he said in a soft whisper, tracing random patterns on the back of her palm. Jessica's heart rate accelerated.

"Feel...what?" she choked out, trying to feign innocence.

He was not fooled. He put a hand on her cheek and traced her cheekbone with his thumb. Jessica's eyes fluttered closed. Every inch of her wanted him to kiss her. And he seemed to want to grant her wish. She could feel him moving closer, his warm breath on her face...

But before their lips could meet, Jessica heard a sharp intake of breath and felt Mike pulling away. Her eyes snapped open. She saw him put a hand on his face and shake his head.

"What-,"

"I can't," was all he said. Then he got up and rushed out.

* * *

Mike raced out of the Laundromat, his head swirling with thoughts. What the hell was wrong with him? How could he have let himself lose his self-control like that? How could he have risked getting into another relationship where he would end up disappointed again?

Mike mentally kicked himself. He could not do this to himself again. He had promised himself after that fateful day when he found Lisa cheating on him that he would never get involved in a serious relationship again. He was fine with flirting, and that's what he had been doing with Jessica. But somehow in the process, he started liking her. _Really _liking her. For some reason, he found that he could relate with her, even though he hardly knew anything about her other than the fact that she was beautiful, funny and intelligent. But he couldn't be with Jessica. He would just disappoint both himself and her by not trusting her fully. He would probably turn into one of those jealous boyfriends that he had always made fun of.

Mike shook his head in frustration. It had taken every bit of his energy to pull away from Jessica. He had been totally drawn in by the unexpected rush of electricity that he felt when he had taken her hand. But if he couldn't control himself when he was around her, what would he do the rest of the year, with her in so many of his classes? He had thought that he could trust himself around her, that she was just another girl that would eventually step out of his life without it mattering to him, but he knew now that that was not the case. Jessica could never be just another girl. He could tell this much from what he had interpreted about her.

He decided that he would have to resort to the most immature stunt, one that he had always hated doing.

_Guess it's time to play the old game of hide and seek._


End file.
